Abstract
Thirty male Timahdite lambs were divided into 3 groups (n=10) and raised during 3 months under pasture (PP), pasture and concentrate (PC), and closed feeding systems with concentrate and hay (CC).Lambs were slaughtered at an average age of 276±6days and a mean live weight of 41±1kg. Carcass's conformation was studied by the measurements method.Instrumental meat quality and fatty acid profile in the semimembranous muscle were analyzed. Results showed that the feeding systems did not affect (P>0.05) the lambs' average daily gain and the carcass quality, except the hind limb compactness index (P<0.05), while they affected significantly the subcutaneous fat color and meat characteristics (P<0.05). Lambs from PP and PC groups showed higher lightness and yellowness indexes (L* and b*) of subcutaneous fat, normal meat ultimate-pH, higher water holding capacity and greater meat lightness color compared to CC group (P < 0.05).The study of fatty acid profile showed that, compared to CC lambs, PP lambs had better percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially n-3 fatty acids, with lower n-6/n-3 ratio apart from greater percentage of conjugated linoleic acid (P<0.01).Based on these results, it is concluded that better quality meat was produced on open pastoral system of feeding with optimum PUFA.
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